The Broken Bow American Legion Seniors baseball team claimed the championship Tuesday at the Class B Area 6 tournament in Gothenburg. Broken Bow went through the tournament undefeated with an 8-5 win over Minden in the championship game. Broken Bow trailed 4-2 going into the sixth inning but was able to kick the offense into high gear in the final two innings. Brody Ridder and Carter Johnson keyed the late two inning rally for the Bow seniors. The two hit back to back doubles in the sixth inning and came around to score to give Broken Bow its first lead of the game at 5-4. In the seventh, Bow had five hits in the inning including back to back doubles again from Ridder and Johnson to help extend Broken Bow’s lead to 8-4 going into the bottom of the 7th. Minden scored one run in their final at bat but that was it as Broken Bow held on for the win. Caden Holm started the game on the mound and pitched five strong innings giving up 4 runs on 4 hits and striking out 8. Brice Chaplin pitched the final two innings in relief giving up just one run on two hits and striking out two. With the win, Broken Bow collects its second consecutive Area 6 tournament title and improves its overall record to 18-10.
Next up for Broken Bow is the state tournament which they will host at Paul Brown Field beginning Saturday, July 30th. Minden also qualifies for the state tournament as the area 6 representative as Broken Bow receives an automatic bid as the host team. Ironically, the pre-determined bracket will have Broken Bow facing Minden once again in the opening round of state on Saturday at 3 p.m. This year marks the first year Broken Bow has hosted a state legion baseball tournament since 1985.
All Broken Bow games from the state tournament will be broadcast on KBBN 95.3 FM and on kbbn.com.
